going to do after these funds run out -- am i going to lose my job? will i go back to where i was 15 months ago? i am also worried about the jobs at risk across the nation. unbacked thank you for having me here. i hope congress listens to us. have a great day. >> keep america working. keep main street working. >> when this program was announced at the federal level in early 2009, the first meeting we had outside the government walls was with the chamber of commerce, and with us now is the director of public policy both locally and across the state and nation in terms of helping is get this extended period >> thanks, and thank you, mayor, for your leadership on this.

i do not have to reiterate how nationally and locally businesses are struggling, the economy is still struggling. we do see that improvements are coming. we see light at the end of the tunnel. part of that light, and i think we all know, is driven by small business, and that is where san francisco's economy is based, backbone of our economy, and nationally. we really depend on those jobs hired by small business. what this program has done for small businesses across the country has but a direct subsidy in to those small businesses that have kept them afloat in this last year, and some, as we just heard, even allowed them to grow. this is the win-win that we have been looking for through the stimulus. we think it is essential that we continue. we have been working with other chambers across the country come out -- especially in this country, to ask other leaders

and individuals who have benefited from the jobs created, benefited by being able to hire employees at a time when otherwise they would not have been able to. they otherwise would not have been able to extend this one more year. it is very important, and we are very proud of the leadership trend has shown and that the mayor has shown. i would like to also speak to one other perspective, and i also serve as the chair of the work force investment board for san francisco where we do our work force training. i cannot think of a better way to train somebody for work than to give them work. thank you for your support and your effort, and we look forward to continuing the fight. thank you. >> there with us. we have two more speakers. a program that grew as quickly as this that we put on the

ground very rapidly, the had the guts and tweaks and shortcomings along the way, but there needs to be support from a wide range of support across the community, and we have with us today a good leader. he is standing behind me. he was extremely helpful. i do not know if he thought he was being held or if my staff thought he was being helpful, but he was gracious enough to spend his time to send out e- mails, to call, to send out programs, and it really helped improve our processes, and it helped approved the ability for small businesses to take advantage of this program, so really appreciate that from myself and my staff. >> thank you. i was trying to be helpful, so i

wanted to clarify that. i am also the founder of small business california new mexico on the board, and i have had the opportunity to speak to small businesses across the state and country about this phenomenal program. most of the businesses i talk to ask why they did not have something like that in their area. but i have also had the opportunity firsthand to use the program. i hired an individual that i needed a claims person. i was shorthanded, and i did not have the wherewithal to hire somebody, and i hired this incredible woman who has come in, and i will continue to employ her, but just to give you a story, this literally happened just this week. on monday at 3:00 a.m., she had a child. at 11:00, she called my office and said she would be in tomorrow. we told her that that was not

necessary. [laughter] but it shows the dedication, and i am also pleased to say we are providing full benefits, so she has her sick leave and medical, but she has done so much for my company. one of the things that is not talked about on this program, obviously, is the benefit to the employer. it is a benefit to the individual, but the other benefit is to employees that work for us. i have a statement from the claims manager in my office, and her comment was hiring someone who is participating in the jobs now program has enabled him to once again provide customers with the service they expect and deserve prior to the hiring of the bridges of who is just -- of the participant who is just too much work for one person to handle. the impact for the employees was also very positive. without a doubt, this is the best program i have ever seen in

san francisco. the welfare to work program a number of years ago -- we created a program there -- was very good, but this one is fantastic. what i'm hearing from small businesses is that they have got good employees. they want to keep the employees, but the financial situation is that they are not going to be able to do it. i talked to dave at a couple of service stations. he hired six people and said five worked out. his given him an opportunity to grow his business, but he has to lay off three employees, and that is a very small number, but it would be tragic to see this program ended. so thank you, mr. mayor. thank you, trent. >> some of the criticisms of this program nationally are the they are just make work jobs that are not really contributing to the economy or to businesses, that these are jobs subsidized by federal dollars that would have otherwise been filled anyway, so you are not really

creating new jobs. the third would be you are replacing people that they do not have skills to work and do not contribute. we did a survey of our employers, and the numbers were unbelievable. over 80% of employers said that they would not have hired these individuals if it were not for the jobs subsidy, creating new jobs. 80% said it actually increased sales, increased revenue in their business because of the additional employees. the third is that the employees had skills. the employees had over 80% increase efficiencies of the businesses in the business owners that we serve it. those numbers debunk those myths that i just spoke of an really did of the only policy arguments being made on the other side of the aisle. the rest is, as the mayor said, political, but i had a chance to meet firsthand someone who is sort of the real-world example of those statistics. he owns an environmentally

friendly car wash, i think is how i will describe it. but he will tell you what he told me, which is how this program really not only help maintain and even save his business, but really helped him to grow. >> i want to thank mayor newsom and trend for their leadership in a program. i am the founder and leader of a small, fast-growing business that provides corporate services to 200-plus premier corporations in the bay area. in the course of business, we help them gain productivity by relieving in areas that they do, which they otherwise spend time on, and we also employed people from disadvantaged communities around the area. prior to jobs now, we had 30 employees, and we were growing very quickly. we were on a very fast trajectory. like most businesses on main

street, the business literally was impacted dramatically overnight. however, despite pending orders, we were -- and we would have had to hold on to cash and maintains that. the jobs now program helped us tremendously. it had enabled us to help us continue to hire and meet demand. we currently have 12 food employees working with us now. now, they are currently mentoring other employees to follow in their footsteps. we would really like the program to continue because it would allow small business owners like myself the ability to take risk and continue to invest. also, the taxpayers, the best way to rescue the economy is by giving jobs to rescue people on

main street. looking at various other progress on by stimulus, from my research, this is by far the most effective way to get people back onto the street, on to the payroll, and i want to again thank mayor newsom and trent for their leadership because that is a type of innovation that as a taxpayer, we see on these issues, which is the kind of innovation that makes america the country it is today. now, mayor newsom: what really caught my attention was that he did not want to take the risk of hiring additional employees in the hopes that the company would grow. jobs now allowed him to hire additional employees and his revenue has increased significantly.

what tom did not say is that his wife had a baby yesterday. i want to thank him for coming out. [applause] i think you still have your hospital wristband on. [laughter] that is it for our speakers. we would be happy to entertain questions. >> how many of the employers will be able to continue hiring? >> that is a great question. we are surveying employers now. over 80% said that the jobs now employees resulted in increased sales and revenue. i think one could assume easily that a lot of those will use the increased revenue to continue to pay even absent the subsidy. we're working with the employer community now. we're also working with the jobs now employees should there be a loss of jobs in transition, helping them to navigate the system and benefits if

necessary, building up their resumes and getting them transition to other jobs. >> we're looking to see if we can create some stimulus for the business as well, some incentive to keep people on. we're hopeful that maybe hundreds or even a thousand or more could maintain their status at least temporarily. after the holidays, many businesses can afford that through the fourth quarter. many are in the service and retail economy. come january, there will be a big dip. what happens is you take one subsidy and and give people another subsidy. in the case a lot of transitional workers, it is more money not to work. that sends a pretty powerful message that we're not serious about job creation and growth and not serious about supporting businesses. the last paycheck would be for the work done through september 30. arguably, the second week of

october would be the last check the come. we would process the final checks through the end of october. when people started -- this was multiple millions, have people learned about it earlier. it was almost a year in the program. trent deserves the credit. he was doing conference calls with other gubernatorial staffs and morals staffs. not one mayor had heard of this. this was after we had 1500 people employed under it. we thought they were kidding. i even went to see the governor. we went together. i do not want to let him out, but my gosh. call the california chamber in your office. call 58 counties and and their boards of supervisors and tell

them about the money, let's go out and create 250,000 jobs in this state. instead, we had a speech about needed more money for work force training. where are you going to find the money? he never came forward. there is no accountability in this country. you just heard that the best job training program is a job. we could have been doing that with federal money. that would have helped all of these businesses and substantially reduce unemployment in this state and our city. why do you think the san francisco and plena rate is better than almost any other county? does anyone asks a question? why is that inherently the case? do the math. people are employed that would have been unemployed. 40,000 people unemployed overall.

what does that represent in percentages? we are well over 10%, up there with other peer cities, without this program. it has been that significant. it does matter what happens down at city hall and the state capital. it is about leadership. it is not just the elected folks as much as it is the people in the trenches. they have driven it with the business leadership you see behind me. >> what impact with those people becoming unemployed have on the city social-service is? >> two things can happen. mayor newsom: is very important. you have heard about the 99 yea'ers who will lose benefits m the federal government. they end up on county welfare rolls.

those of the county assistance programs. we already saw when the unemployment debate occurred and there was still a question of the unemployment benefits being extended, you saw substantial increases, and double the number of applications on the county program. underbudgeted, subsidized by the county. two things happened. people go on the federal rolls. some may have already had experience on the rolls before and did not get the natural extension benefits. then they go on the county rose. the county has to subsidize it at a time when the counties are already financially strapped, versus a program that cost less money to keep people employed and creates economic output and sales growth. that generates more sales tax revenue and gross revenue. it has a multiplier with the stimulus. there is a physiology behind this. i am mesmerized that it is not

so obvious to the folks in washington. it may be a complete disconnect. it may not be rhetoric. there is a disconnect between washington and main street. it was beautiful when you heard from robert. it seems almost like pulp driven rhetoric. they say it every debate. it is nonsense. it is just words. i cannot understand how this is getting caught up in the politics in the senate. we're one or two of votes away from getting this as a done deal. all they have to pick up as one or two republicans. >> the online campaigning. to the states think the senate

republicans are wavering? are the states using the programs and have a lot of people that will benefit from continuing to use them? >> the common currency with all the states is that the color of money is green. the states we're going after are red. mississippi, texas, and states similar to those are read states. we believe that when the true facts are put on the table that people will believe this is a bipartisan issue. we want to keep america working. it is important for us to know that less risk is taken out of our decisions every day a small business owners. this will take a tremendous amount of risk out of our decisions for the next year. >they have used the program. i talked to a woman yesterday it with a delightful mississippi accent. she said this was the most successful program we have ever done. she said they could not spend the money fast enough. that goes to the same thing that

trent and mayor newsom were saying. she said she had small business owners clamoring to take people off of the unemployment rolls. it is not left coast or east coast. it is every coast and esstate in between. >> the campaign? >> it is a collaborative campaign. we're reaching out business owner to business owners and trying to garner letters of support. this is not a handout. it is a hands up program. we believe bluntly it helps our bottom line and also our topline. we want people who have benefited to speak out and let their congress people know this is something that has to be carried forward. i am working closely with the government officials here to leverage their contacts to put our voices with theirs. mayor newsom: i did not mean to

take a shot. i do not know that i did. i could have but did not. the governor is supportive. his chief of staff is a supportive of our efforts. we do have a bipartisan effort. the board of supervisors member in los angeles is a republican who trusts me and is not very supportive of a lot of things we do appear. he is extraordinarily supportive of these efforts. he and i wrote an op-ed piece that ended up in some newspaper. it may have ended up on line. maybe i just put it on the website. did anyone pick it up? the loud and by the "l.a. daily news." -- go out and buy the "l.a. daily news." if you are the governor of mississippi, you should love this. if you are the governor of texas, you should love this. they should be out their front

and center. the key is going to be republicans taking the leadership. we have a strong leadership with the democrats. it has gone through the house twice. we have had two victories. ultimately people get caught up in the jobs bill debate and everything else. they come back from recess. there's a small period of time when this can happen. the advocacy is going to be focused for the next few weeks no city is better positioned to be an advocate-liter than san francisco because of speaker policy -- to be an advocate-city than it san francisco because of speaker nancy pelosi and other representatives. we are in a unique position. it is not good enough. everything is being played out with the midterm elections. we're playing with people's lives. we're playing with their families. you have two kids.

this is serious business. this is not just about the person speaking. with an 11-month old, i get it now. 11 months ago, i would have said that i understood it but i understand it now. it is serious. it is not 3020 people. it is 3820 families. >> california is working with the small business committee in the senate on this program. mayor newsom: those are the key. >> over the last nine months, 994 families have left the welfare program in san francisco. compare that to the prior nine months before jobs now, a little over 254 families. we're more than 3.5 times the number of families leading state aid. we only have about 5000 families on welfare.

this program is funded with federal and state dollars and county dollars. where do the fans want to spend their money? on the welfare side or on this side? -- where do the fans want to spend their money? on the welfare side or on this side? mayor newsom: the benefits are far reaching and self-evident. any other questions? thank you very much. we will try to make this happen. [applause] >> welcome to "culture wire." i'm your host meg. for years, free jazz concerts

have been providing entertainment in downtown san francisco. people pay local musicians to perform for lunchtime crowds. the goal is not just entertainth. people in plazas are trying to create neighborhoods. what began as a forum for performers who were paid by passing the hat has become a program that provides wide exposure and more than 500 paid gigs annually for local musicians. from july through september, people in plazas produces almost 300 free performances in the lunchtime hour. the mission of people in plazas generates social congregation. and by having these events, we

encourage people to make these plazas everybody's neighborhood. >> recently, the san francisco arts commission was awarded a $ 250,000 grant for the national endowment for the arts. to establish an arts district in the central market corridor between fifth and 10th street. throughout the yearing the arts commission will partner with people in plazas to activate the sidewalks along this stretch with art installation, opening events, live music, and new arts and antique markets at u.n. plaza. >> this area has been sleighted for many years, at least the past 25 years. i think that this redevelopment project and the n.e.a. grant are very positive signs that we have political will and a lot of momentum to really make the mid market area what it could be, which is a vibrant area where

everybody is welcome and it's a place to be in san francisco. >> to get a feel for the future of the central market arts and culture district, be sure to catch out an upcoming concert. for locations and times, visit peopleinplazas.org. to learn more about the central market revitalization initiative, visit sfartcommission.org. thank you for watching "culture wire."